Asha Sur

Name: Asha Sur

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Grade: Senior

School: Cochise High School

Hobbies and Interests: Ballet, Horror, Art, Goth culture

Appearance: Asha is a dark-skinned girl of Indian descent. Her black hair is styled in a pixie cut. She is taller than the Indian average at 5’3, though this is still shorter than most Americans. She is somewhat slim at 115 pounds. Her face is soft and round, with a small nose and mouth. She has wide, brown eyes with thick, angular eyebrows. Asha’s feet are calloused and warped from many strenuous years of ballet.

Her wardrobe is mostly monochromatic, consisting mostly of various black skirts, stockings, and blouses, along with a couple more formal dresses. Asha also has an assorted collection of t-shirts and hoodies that she’ll wear along with plain shorts or jeans when she doesn’t feel like making an effort to dress up. She wears black combat boots. Asha typically wears a decent amount of makeup, such as dark lipstick and eyeliner. She has a set of flower hairpin accessories, which she typically cycles through wearing.

On the day she was abducted, Asha was wearing a black blouse and slightly-above-the-knee length black miniskirt, along with thick, black and white striped thigh-high stockings and her combat boots. She was additionally wearing a black rose hairpin.

Biography: Asha was born on February 24, 1997 to Dhia and Sai Sur, who were respectively a recently-graduated college student working several part-time jobs and a moderately successful businessman. Life proceeded comfortably for them until 2000, when Sai passed away due to complications from an undiagnosed heart condition.

Alone and living off of her husband’s savings, Dhia was forced to move in with her parents; whom she had been previously estranged from due to their belief that she should have stayed home and accepted an arranged marriage instead of going to college. Fortunately for Dhia, an offer for help came from her brother Arosh, who lived in the US and had recently married a woman named Jessica. They both worked as engineers, super-commuting to Las Vegas from Kingman, and needed someone to help take care of their newborn son Kevin.

Dhia made plans to move to the US without her parents’ knowledge, biding her time by living with them until her visa was accepted a year later. Once Dhia had successfully moved to Kingman, her life calmed down a great deal. She got on excellently with both Jessica and Kevin, and Jessica was grateful to be able to return to her job. Asha would spend the rest of her childhood in that house, viewing Kevin as a younger brother and Jessica and Arosh as extra parents.

Because Asha was only a few years old when she moved to the US, she acclimated well, learning English quickly alongside being taught Hindi by her family. She was a cheerful-natured child, and from the moment she entered pre-school she made friends quickly and easily.

As Asha grew older, entering elementary school, Dhia began to put Asha under a great amount of pressure to succeed. This was relatively innocuous at first, such as Dhia asking Asha to show her all of her schoolwork to make sure that she was doing her work properly. In addition, she signed Asha up for many extracurricular activities such as soccer, little league baseball, violin practice, and ballet without Asha’s knowledge.

Dhia meant well, determined to make sure her daughter could find something she was passionate about early on so she could freely pursue it later in life, a chance Dhia had been denied. Asha did her best to keep up with her now filled to the brim schedule without complaining, not wanting to disappoint her mother, but after about a month of constant effort on top of her schoolwork she eventually broke down in tears and begged her mother to let her drop out of everything.

Shocked at how ragged she had run her daughter, Dhia relented, allowing her to withdraw from any activities she truly wasn’t enjoying. After a moment’s thought, Asha decided to quit everything except ballet.

On Asha’s first day of ballet, the instructor had shown the class various clips of professional ballerinas onstage. Young Asha was starstruck from the instant she laid eyes on their deliberate, elegant movements, and wanted nothing more than to be able to one day dance on stage alongside them.

This starry-eyed determination stuck through the years of practice that came afterwards, even when Asha was so exhausted that she could barely walk and her feet hurt so much that she cried. Her vision of grace on stage remained, a vision that was only solidified once she became old and experienced enough to become part of performances more complex than what she had done as a child.

Asha remains a ballerina to the present. She has developed a strong bond with everyone who has managed to endure the dance throughout the years, considering her fellow ballerinas her closest friends. Despite being talented enough to try out for lead roles in performances, Asha prefers to stick to supporting roles, cherishing the feeling of allowing other people to shine through her effort. Her years of ballet have also kept Asha strong and in shape, especially her legs.

When Asha entered 6th grade, Dhia’s controlling nature came back in full force, stronger than ever before. She began to lecture Asha over any sub-par grades, no matter how minor the assignment. Dhia also exercised close scrutiny over many other aspects of Asha’s lifestyle, such as her diet, wardrobe, and who she hung out with, especially boys.

Asha would often come home from school straight to a lecture from her mother, simply sitting despondent and listening. This made Arosh and Jessica very uncomfortable, but they were unwilling to dictate how Dhia raised her own child, especially because she remained unconditionally kind to Kevin; as Dhia only expected Asha to live up to her high expectations. Though Asha tried to maintain a brave face, she grew increasingly quiet and withdrawn at school, and ultimately got several D’s as final grades in classes.

This near-failure led to an especially harsh lecture from Dhia once she found out. However, Asha exploded back at her mother for the first time, resulting in a shouting match that lasted nearly an hour before Arosh came home and broke up the fight. Asha went to her room fuming, while Arosh tried to calm Dhia down and convince her that maybe she had been too strict.

That day marked a drastic shift in Asha’s attitude. She became sarcastic and sullen to everyone except Arosh and Jessica, directing most of her scorn towards her mother. Though their tension never broke out into another shouting match, Asha ignored Dhia whenever possible, and was fond of muttering quietly and disdainfully out of her earshot. Arosh, blaming himself for letting things get that far, played mediator whenever possible, telling Dhia that Asha’s behavior was just a phase that she would grow out of eventually.

At the start of 7th grade, Asha befriended several girls of a similar disposition to her own, who introduced her into the wide world of Goth culture. Asha was instantly enamoured. Jessica had granted her an allowance in exchange for doing chores around the house, and Asha used that money in order to gradually turn her wardrobe monochrome, frequently patronizing hot topic. She soon became the picture of a stereotypical moody goth girl. Despite her affected apathy, Asha never let her grades slip as far as they had the previous year, and thus Dhia refrained from complaining too loudly.

As time passed, Asha’s attitude began to soften once more. She had assumed the angsty goth persona mostly in an attempt to express herself in a way that would annoy her mother the most, but it chafed majorly with her natural friendliness. After the initial rush had worn off, acting snide just didn’t feel good anymore.

However, Asha felt herself too committed to her image to let it go entirely, and it took until the start of her Freshman year of high school to drop the attitude completely. Asha apologized to Dhia, who apologized as well and acknowledged that she had been far too strict. After that, they returned to an awkward but still caring relationship, much to the relief of the rest of the family.

Though she had ditched the attitude, Asha still quite liked the Goth aesthetic. She kept her wardrobe and still stays connected with the culture, and she is far happier for being an upbeat gothic girl. Asha has mostly drifted apart from the goth crowd she hung out with in middle school, with the exception of a couple closer friends who never took their image very seriously in the first place. Her favorite bands are The Birthday Massacre and Within Temptation, and she’s an avid fan of Tim Burton’s work.

As Asha discovered during her goth phase, her favorite genre of any media is horror. She relishes the feelings of paranoia it inspires, the knowledge that there is not only is there something other than yourself out there, something completely beyond your comprehension, but that it also wants you very dead. As such, she adores surreal or psychological horror such as HP Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe’s work, while deriding movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street as cheap bloodfests that trade any sense of tension for cheap gore and jumpscares.

Adoscolent Asha had determined that, in order to fully realize her image, she had to become an artist like most of her goth friends. Though she started the hobby mostly out of a sense of obligation, it struck a chord with her growing fascination of horror and her ballerina’s appreciation of elegance. She diligently stuck with the hobby to the present day. Most of what Asha draws would come off as disturbing to most, as she favors drawing grotesque monsters and elegant abominations, sometimes juxtaposed together. She shares her art on Tumblr, where she has a small following.

In her Junior year of high school, Asha decided to try and further her creation of horror beyond simply an aesthetic level, and attempt to make a narrative of her own. As such she started work on her own webcomic, The Wonderful Death of Us All! The concept behind it was simple - a small, consistent cast of cute, super-deformed characters would face horrors beyond their imagining. Each story arc would end with most if not all of the characters dead, only to be brought back to life in order to face another miserable fate. She had a blast conceiving of various disturbing scenarios and illustrating them, and has continued the comic to the present day, retaining a very niche audience.

Asha doesn’t quite yet know what she wants to do after she graduates from high school. She’s torn between two options - going professional as a ballerina, or applying to a prestigious art school. Dhia has pledged to lend her full support either way, proud that her daughter has found her passions; even if they weren’t quite what Dhia had hoped for.

School-wise, Asha’s performance has been consistently above-average since she entered high school, mostly motivated by consistent, if gentle, prodding from her mother to succeed. She enjoys the practicality of STEM-based classes while being simultaneously annoyed at the actual effort it takes to do their homework. Though the constraints that Art classes put on her work irritate her a little, Asha still appreciates the chance to improve her techniques and work outside of her comfort zone. She outright despises English, finding the material both boring and mostly inapplicable to what she wants to do later on in life.

Asha’s present relationship with her family is good. While she still gets in the occasional argument with her mother, they make much more of an effort to communicate and understand each other. Dhia has, incidentally, also recently begun to follow her own passions and re-enter the freelance programming field.

Asha loves Arosh and Jessica like additional parents, forever grateful to them for their support of her throughout her middle school years. While her relationship with Kevin was strained for a while, due to Dhia’s preferential treatment of him; Asha still treats Kevin like a little brother, complete with all the good-natured teasing that implies.

At school, Asha is very friendly and sociable. She still makes friends easily, and will never hesitate to introduce herself to an unfamiliar person. Apart from her ballet squad, most of her school friendships tend to be relatively distant. Asha dated Ty Yazzie for a summer a couple years back, but they broke up quickly and on amicable terms.

Early on in high school, Asha took Jessica aside and asked her for advice on the fact that she was getting crushes on girls as well as boys. That conversation helped Asha come to the realization that she was bisexual. The rest of her immediate family supported her, and she publicly came out in her Sophomore year.

In general, Asha has a very positive outlook on life. She always tries to assume the best of and understand others, and she has a well-developed sense of empathy. However, oftentimes she can come off as unnerving due to the fact that she extends the same attitude when she’s talking about fairly horrific fictional topics, having a very dark and off-beat sense of humor.

Advantages: Asha’s friendly attitude has gained her many friends, which could be an asset on-island. Her many years of ballet have kept her physically strong and in shape.

Disadvantages: Asha is naturally very empathetic, and as such she tends to put the needs of others above her own. Her morbid sense of humor, when used as a coping mechanism, could be very off putting to others and drive potential allies away. She tends to chafe under strict leadership, making it unlikely that she will be a part of any organized groups.

Designated Number: Female student no. 018

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Designated Weapon: Taser

Conclusion: Don't make 'shocking' pun, don't make 'shocking' pun. Okay. Well, G018 has the right attitude and dark-enough interests to make it work. So, keep her eyes on her and I think we'll have quite the electrifying experi-DAMN IT! - Dennis Lourvey

'The above biography is as written by dmboogie. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: dmboogie

Kills: 

Killed By: 

Collected Weapons: Taser (assigned weapon)

Allies: Dorothy Shelley, Min-jae Parker

Enemies: Isabel Ramirez, Michael Crowe

Mid-game Evaluation: Asha was immediately prepared to face death, and warmly welcomed and embraced Dorothy Shelley when she woke outside the supply depot storehouse. Alex Tarquin arrived and made a show of being hostile, but Asha boldly called him out and even dared to get closer when he brandished his weapon. She decided to leave and brought Dorothy along, extending the invitation to Wayne Cox, who took it. They scaled the northwest cliffs further up the left flank of the island.

Here she prompted the others to talk about what was on their minds. When the others brought up their doubts and fears she relayed her philosophy to them, and her plan to simply try to get the class to enjoy what time they had left. Neither of them were especially sure, but Asha accepted that fact and continued to assuage their doubts. Eventually, they left.

They found Nancy Kyle in the library, and Asha tried to approach her in a friendly gesture though Nancy's involvement in a kill was obvious, backed up tentatively by Dorothy. Nancy fled anyways, and they set up a camp in the library for the night. During Wayne's watch shift he fled with Dorothy's bag. Dorothy woke due to noises he made while departing after this theft. She was left with only one charge of her taser to use, and tried to stay up to make up the rest of Wayne's shift. Isabel Ramirez, bloodied from her two kills, found Asha come morning, asleep. Asha woke, and though she was concerned about Isabel from off-island knowledge, she gave Isabel the benefit of a doubt. This didn't last long, Isabel's suspicions of Dorothy didn't sit well with Asha, and then announcements confirmed that Asha couldn't trust her former ballet-mate and their conversation took a tense turn. Now irritated, Isabel made her stance clear, and ominously warned the girls that they'd wish they'd died beforehand if they ever met again. She left. Asha was mostly unimpressed. Dorothy however was vaguely rattled, and Asha comforted her before they left to find others.

While they traveled Asha split the rations they had left so Dorothy received the brunt of them. They heard Day 3 announcements, and Asha was shocked to hear that Isabel had gone on to kill one of her best friends, Danny Brooks. They entered the chapel, where they found another killer, Min-jae Parker, threatening Brendan Harte with a crossbow. Asha and Dorothy split their attentions to try and pacify both, Asha successfully calmed Jae and Dorothy managed to calm Brendan. However Brendan chose to leave soon after Jae's crossbow was lowered. Asha reflected on how she seemed to be the only one truly at peace, and thought it funny in some sense. She continued to maintain her good cheer when another person who had clearly murdered, Alessio Rigano, marched into the scene.

Asha and Dorothy tried to play negotiations with Al as well, but he was mostly silent and unwilling to talk about the obvious kill he'd just taken. Dorothy lost her temper with him, which did nothing to ease the tension, and Jae kept his weapon hoisted Al's way. In the end it was only the appearance of Michael Crowe that scared Al off, and that gave Asha a new set of problems to deal with. Asha was less impressed with Michael, armed with the knowledge of his intent from what Brendan had earlier told them, and she tried to convince him to leave, worried he'd make Jae actually shoot. Neither Michael nor Jae listened to Asha's attempts to defuse the situation, instead insulting each other until Michael threatened Asha and Dorothy in order to keep Jae from firing at him. Taking advantage of Dorothy yelling to distract Michael, Asha retrieved her taser from Dorothy's bag and stepped in once again, this time making it clear that she would taze Michael and disarm him if he didn't leave peacefully. That got Michael to finally retreat, and Asha was proud of her chosen allies for having ended the confrontation peacefully. An exhausted Jae went to sleep for the next several hours, while Asha and Dorothy barriacaded the entrance of the chapel to prevent anymore interruptions.

Dorothy also drifted off to sleep, so Min-jae and Asha were alone when Jae woke. They tried for friendly small talk at first, but the conversation quickly turned serious. Asha related the events that had befallen her, and then the question turned Jae's way, and he in turn vaguely revealed what he'd done, up to his abandoning of former ally Hazel Jung. Jae called himself out on his own failures, and Asha tried to comfort him with her usual irreverence, though she hesitated to be morbid about it for a change. He then continued on with his revelations, with his own conclusions that he was gay. Asha unhesitatingly supported him, and then Dorothy when she woke from a night terror. They had a relatively peaceful night, but in the morning while Jae was taking down the barricades the announcements sounded. Asha was stunned to realize Al, the man she'd had mercy on, had murdered Jae's best friend and love interest Henry Spencer. Jae was breaking down, Asha could only force him out of it by reminding him that they were in a danger zone and had to run.

The group split up briefly, with Asha and Dorothy making their way to the asylum roof and Jae staying behind to deal with his grief and look for supplies. Asha had mixed emotions about finding Wayne's body and her stolen bag, and she expressed both her wish that he hadn't killed himself and her forgiveness for his actions. She went forward from there, as they recovered her supplies and found a weapon for Dorothy, Jae returned.

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes: "Hey, you. Looks like you've had some trouble. It's okay, now!" -- Asha to Nancy Kyle, who is at that point soaked in blood, clearly freaking out, and wielding an axe.

"If you absolutely have to threaten my life, I'd prefer that you address me while you do it. Why, it almost seems like you don't care about me. That hurts!" - To Michael, after he threatens her life to deter Min-jae.

"Apology accepted, you stupid bastard!" -- Asha's sincere final message for Wayne, after finding his corpse and their stolen supplies.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Asha, in chronological order.

Pre-Game:
 * The Library Is The Power House Of The Student

V6:
 * AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH
 * Time steals us all away one day, does it not?
 * 白色雑音
 * Devil's Choir
 * Happy Hour with the Deicide Squad
 * I swear I'm not a jumper.

Related Threads in Meanwhile:
 * we are westward souls

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Asha Sur. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''